North Carolina’s Madison County School District has put an AR-15 in a safe in every school in the county so the guns can be accessed for classroom defense in case of attack.

The Citizen Times notes that Madison County schools will also have breaching tools and extra magazines of ammunition for the rifles.

The county’s decision was framed as a response to the May 24 Uvalde, Texas, attack.

A memorial for victims of Tuesday’s mass shooting at Robb Elementary School is seen on May 27, 2022, in Uvalde, Texas. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

USA Today reported that Madison County Sheriff Buddy Harwood pushed for the AR-15s following the attack, pointing out that he did not want evil people to be able to enter the school and hole up in a classroom with officers powerless to act.

Harwood said, “Hopefully we’ll never need it, but I want my guys to be as prepared as prepared can be.”

“We were able to put an AR-15 rifle and safe in all of our schools in the county. We’ve also got breaching tools to go into those safes. We’ve got extra magazines with ammo in those safes,” Harwood explained.

“In the event we have someone barricaded in a door, we won’t have to wait on the fire department. We’ll have those tools to be able to breach that door if needed. I do not want to have to run back out to the car to grab an AR, because that’s time lost.”

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